Multipotentiality
In which we try to be everything and find shiny trinkets
More than one
Back in school, I did fairly well in… basically everything. Science, languages, arts, gym class. So, I never had that obvious one thing I excelled at. It’s always been that way.
I envy the people who have that one burning passion, that one thing they give everything for. I don’t have such a thing. I have several things but lack the ‘one to rule them all’.
When I read the book How to Be Everything by Emily Wapnick, I felt like this:
The book is about multipotentiality, the concept of having multiple passions, interests, and career paths. It is the idea that some individuals find fulfillment by moving around in various fields. This can be a blessing and a curse, as it allows for a wide range of possibilities and opportunities, but can also make it difficult to choose and commit to a specific path.
A jack of all trades is a master of none, the saying goes. But did you know that this is actually an incomplete version of Robert Greene’s characterization of William Shakespeare? In full, the quote reads:
A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
Yet, society seems to prefer specialists over generalists - hedgehogs, not foxes, to paraphrase Isaiah Berlin’s essay. The ancient Greek poet Archilochus put it this way:
A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one big thing.
In his day and age, people (mostly Greek men, if we’re being honest about those days) could still try to be everything. Today, we are pigeonholed into subjects to study and are then shuffled along a career path that rarely allows for deviations, except for the ones we make ourselves. Drawing from my own experience, if you want to make it in academia, you better become known as an expert in one very particular sub-sub-field. The academic polymaths of today usually only come out to play after they’ve secured tenure or major funding. (Just a vibe, no data, and probably quite different among disciplines. Ha, ‘disciplines’, proves my point.)
Two sides
While specialization certainly has its value, so does generalism. We need specialists - I’d prefer to go to an oncology specialist if I were to face cancer - and society in its current state probably needs proportionally more of them than generalists. But we do need generalists.
Multipotentialites are often characterized by insatiable curiosity, as well as the ability to learn fast and adapt. They approach problems and challenges from multiple angles and bring a diverse set of skills and perspectives to the table. Their curiosity and diversity of viewpoints allow them to bring together knowledge and ideas from multiple fields and combine them in unique and creative ways.
On the flip side, multipotentiality (hard to type, dammit) has its challenges, even beyond the social and educational pressures. There can be too many shiny things vying for your attention, which can be stressful and make you feel like you don’t have enough hours in a day. When you have too many options (aka interests) to spend your time on, overchoice syndrome is just around the corner. This might also be an issue for career choice. (Although this is not borne out by all studies.)
How do they do it, the multipotentialites who find a career or life trajectory that brings them fulfillment? According to Wapnick, people who lean more toward multipotentiality crave three things from their career and life: variety, meaning, and money (gotta pay rent). In her book Wapnick distinguishes four ways to find (a) job(s) that can help you do that:
Group hug: having one job that lets you do many different things you are interested in.
Slash approach: combine two or more part-time jobs, often in fairly niche careers.
Einstein approach: like the good man in the patent office, you find a job that you don’t mind doing to pay the bills, but which also leaves you enough time and energy to pursue other passions on the side.
Phoenix approach: pursue one job/career trajectory with a healthy dose of obsession for a while, then quit and start over in another field.
These different approaches will appeal to different people. 1 and 3 will be for you if you value stability ad certainty, for example. If you crave freedom and flexibility, 2 and 4 might be a better fit. Of course, your preferences will also be shaped by your conditions. If you have to support a family, stability might become more important.
But life is so much more than a job (for most of us, I hope). How do you thrive in life as multipotentialite? Honestly, I’m still trying to figure that out. Some suggestions:
Embrace it.
Explore whatever catches your interest.
Combine different interests into something unique.
Communities for starters are all over the place; You’ll be a starter more than once, so use them.
Change. You will change your mind and life goals. That’s okay. Roll with it.
Patience. Without having that one specific thing you were ‘meant to do’, it might be a while before you figure out what success and fulfillment look like for you.
Ooh, a shiny trinket.